The absence of a robust U.S. foreign policy will make it difficult to cull together a believable U.S. response. Clearly, unfolding events in Syria, Iran and Iraq offer strong evidence that a United States-led rescue is overly optimistic.

Citing the American "fracking revolution" as a significant factor in Russia's economic crisis, writers Jim Rosapepe and Sheilah Kast go a bit overboard in linking it with the comparative success of capitalism and democracy ("How dangerous is Russia?" Dec. 22).

Jim Rosapepe and Sheilah Kast's commentary, "How dangerous is Russia?" (Dec. 22), sets up some straw men and creates a specter of menace over the current twist in Russian relations versus the West. But Russia never invaded the West while historically both Napoleon and Adolf Hitler invaded the giant...

Commentator Jules Witcover writes that President Obama "needs to put a bit of John Wayne in his words" vis-a-vis his handling of Russia over the Malaysian Airlines tragedy ("The Obama doctrine under fire," July 25).

President Barack Obama is right to refrain from action against Russia ("The Obama doctrine under fire," July 25). After years of war, the U.S. has learned its lesson: don't mess with a hornet's nest thousands of miles away.